Best historical christian theology books according to redditors
We found 97 Reddit comments discussing the best historical christian theology books. We ranked the 42 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 97 Reddit comments discussing the best historical christian theology books. We ranked the 42 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
For quantitative analysis of American Christianity, see Stark and Finke, The Churching of America.
For narrative history of the rise of contemporary evangelicalism as a right-wing political entity, see Darren Dochuk, From Bible Belt to Sunbelt; and Daniel Williams, God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right.
On how Christians dealt with the issue of slavery, see Mark Noll, The Civil War as Theological Crisis.
But to give my opinion (studied this in grad school), no, that's horseshit. He's just making up something that allows him to reduce cognitive dissonance.
I hate buying books as much as the next guy, but this little paper back book is only like 25 bucks tops.
http://www.amazon.com/John-Wyclif-Great-Medieval-Thinkers/dp/0195183320
> I'm becoming more and more convinced that there's an entire branch of American theology that was developed specifically to avoid dealing with the moral challenge of slavery.
You might be very interested in reading The Civil War as a Theological Crisis by Mark A. Noll, which is considered the cornerstone history book on the religious parts of the Civil War and is in fact entirely about what you're being convinced about. :)
This is sort of one of my pet areas of interest, I've tried to read both the secular side and the Christian side, in the end I think these are the best books on the subject:
Kenneth Kitchen's On the Reliability of the Old Testament - He is one of the world's top Egyptologists and wrote this book to defend the OT.
https://www.amazon.com/Reliability-Old-Testament-K-Kitchen/dp/0802803962
James Hoffmeier's Israel in Egypt and Ancient Israel in Sinai - another one of the world's top Egyptologists.
https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Israel-Sinai-Authenticity-Wilderness/dp/0195155467/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=
https://www.amazon.com/Israel-Egypt-Evidence-Authenticity-Tradition/dp/019513088X/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526660677&sr=1-1&keywords=israel+in+egypt
Provan, Long, and Longman's Biblical History of Israel is very good too:
https://www.amazon.com/Biblical-History-Israel-Second-ebook/dp/B01CUKCXFW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526660730&sr=1-1&keywords=a+biblical+history+of+israel%2C+second+edition
Also, James Hoffmeier edited another book that I would recommend to any Catholic interested in biblical studies:
https://www.amazon.com/Historical-Matters-Matter-Faith-Postmodern-ebook/dp/B007IJY9YO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526660787&sr=1-1&keywords=do+historical+matters+matter+to+faith
There are many bad books out there, but these are very good and trustworthy by good scholars.
Many people will argue from a book called The Bible Unearthed that the Scriptures are not reliable, but quite frankly the arguments used in there are not very good. Kenneth Kitchen refutes them pretty in depth in his book.
"The Orthodox Church" By Kallistos Ware. A very readable and comprehensive book by a well respected convert now bishop.
Byzantine Theology by John Meyendorff. He is one of the greatest contemporary Orthodox theologians.
The Way of the Pilgrim Author unknown. This is a classic of Eastern Christian spirituality that brings many people into the Orthodox way.
Hope these help!
Sort of. You seem to accidentally be denying the divinity of Christ and thereby the Trinity. Try On The Incarnation, by Athanasius the Great, if you want something patristic. It's pretty great. If you want more contemporary or accessible works on this, The Way to Nicaea and The Nicene Faith by John Behr, a professor of patristics, are excellent.
You might be interested in this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Civil-War-Theological-Crisis/dp/0807830127
This tweet seems a bit reductionist, nevermind the pre-understanding going into the word "Gospel" in this situation.
But I digress.
Historically speaking, Liberalism is a spectrum of Christian theology which maximally "accommodates to the claims of modernity".
Due to the progress in learning, industry, innovation, science, technology, etc. etc. during the enlightenment, and within the modern era, a great series of challenges to religious and institutional authority were issued.
What resulted was a re-reading and re-understanding of the biblical texts; a critiquing and adopting of new philosophical schemes; and an abandonment or reimagining of Classical Theologies. As a result long-standing religious beliefs (particularly Christian beliefs) were no longer sought to be tenable according to the new information being discovered. Liberal theology had/has a tendency to view humans and the human project optimistically, downplaying God's transcendence for his immanence. God is Father, all humanity are brothers, Jesus' message was about caring for other people.
This type of theology still has a large presence and influence in in the world today, but there is no set "Liberal" theology as it is quite a broad tent. The best way to understand them, historically speaking at least, is to view them as capitulating, quite consistently in their entirety, to the claims of the modern project.
Some famous Liberal Theologians include: Friedrich Schleiermacher, Adolf von Harnack, Walter Rauschenbusch and Albrecht Ritschl
Fundamentalism is a movement that arose from a diverse group of conservative Protestants, from varying denominations, united with the purpose of militant (militant in the sense of being uncompromising, staunch, vocal, defenders - not violent) opposition against the claims of modernity, particularly Liberal Theology and Higher Biblical Criticism (the readings and techniques of the Bible that Liberalism had adopted).
They initially were a diverse group with varying views, "but they agreed that liberal... theology and higher criticism of the Bible were very serious assaults on “real Christianity” that needed to be confronted and stopped."
This group began to fracture as certain parties insisted on more conservative positions, whereas others tried to be more moderate. Fundamentalism became associated with more conservative doctrines such as Biblical inerrancy and Biblical literalism. What is generally considered a "constitution" for fundamentalism is a book called "The Fundamentals" which has many fundamentalist scholars addressing various topics.
This group attempted to highlight the transcendence of God, as opposed to Liberalism. What this meant for their presentation of the Gospel is that the Gospel was solely about the eternal, spiritual salvation of one's soul. Thus, human concerns now were not nearly as important as being saved from eternal condemnation.
Some Famous Fundamentalist Theologians include: Charles Hodge, B. B. Warfield
There are also lots and lots of views in between Liberalism and Fundamentalism.
Sources: The Journey of Modern Theology
What is Fundamentalism?
What is Liberalism? I
What is Liberalism? II
Here's the story written for any educated layperson:
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-God-Back-Readers-Pick/dp/031606744X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453706897&sr=8-1&keywords=the+evolution+of+god
Here's the story for someone with a good familiarity with Biblical studies:
http://www.amazon.com/Invention-God-Thomas-R%C3%B6mer/dp/0674504976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453706971&sr=8-1&keywords=the+invention+of+god
There are a number of Sumerian and Babylonian sacred texts here. In particular, the enuma elish has some interesting parallels to Genesis. One in particular - the creation of the world was the work of one god (marduk), but the creation of man was a joint effort between all the gods (the Sumerian creation myth is similar). Have a look at Genesis 1, and note where the text switches from singular to plural. Also - according to Mesopotamian mythology, humans were created to do the work that the gods were tired of doing. Thus they were expected to work the fields and engage in general labor. Have a look at Genesis 2:15 for a parallel.
I recommend these books for a deeper study:
Stories from Ancient Canaan
The Early History of God
The Origins of Biblical Monotheism
The Evolution of God
http://www.amazon.com/The-Civil-War-Theological-Crisis/dp/0807830127
Pre-supp apologetics will make a world of difference.
I've spent a lot of time on Philosophy. I think it matters a great deal. Currently this work is waiting on my nightstand.
https://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Philosophy-Theology/dp/162995084X
If you wanted to dip more into our perspectives and approaches on philosophy, this would be a good starting place.
My top recommendation is Reformed Catholicity: The Promise of Retrieval for Theology and Biblical Interpretation by Allen and Swain. If you haven't read it please do. It's not the easiest read, but well worth the effort.
A close second is Rejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ by Todd Billings. If you or a loved one are suffering, read this right away. If not, read it anyway for when the time comes.
A few more that I have on my list to read, but have not yet read:
My brief take on it: If Jesus wasn't God, then he was incapable of redeeming us. (Also, it would be bad for us to worship him. This point is a pretty big deal.)
If Jesus wasn't man, then you creep into gnosticism which denies a pretty central tenet of Christianity (and Judaism), which is that creation is good because God is good and made it so. It suggests that we should somehow escape the physical world.
Also, his becoming man teaches us something about how divine redemption works.
Know the Heretics is a small little book (maybe 150 pages?) that gets recommended often. It serves as a great introduction to a lot of classical Orthodox Christian theology, (since so much of it was solidified in response to particicular heresies) and why it was important.
You might also try searching for summaries of the "seven ecumenical councils" (Wikipedia's a solid place to start).
----
If you're looking into the difference between miaphysites (1 dual nature) and duophysites (2 inseparable natures) from the Council of Chalcedon: there's a sort of hopeful consensus that that came down to a translation and communication issue. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox (the two groups on either side of that divide) are hopeful for reunion "soon" (in ecclesiastic terms. Within our children's or grandchildren's lifetimes, perhaps).
Grenz and Olsen wrote a fascinating book reviewing 20th century theology as it moved back and forward between the two aspects of God you are talking about. His Transcendence and his Imminence. Both are valid views, and they suggest that in fact, holding only one or the other diminishes your view of God, both need to be held in balance for a balanced view of God.
The book is kinda academic but a good read.
I'm a Baptist.
First off, all the creeds are not so much an attempt to explain all the details of the faith as much as they are a response to those who moved beyond what Scripture teaches. They establish boundaries using increasingly specific language in order to clearly explain what falls within orthodox Christian belief. For example, two people may say they believe Jesus was divine, yet they one can mean his divinity over-rode his humanity, while the other (orthodox) person means that he was fully divine and fully human together. Simply put, the creeds are an attempt to summarize basic Christian beliefs.
The three creeds you mention are some of the earliest creeds. The first two are accepted all three major branches of the church (Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox). There are a few squabbles over some details in the Athanasian by Orthodox believers.
The Apostles creed, while not developed by the Apostles, was developed in the early second century and came into its final form by the late 300s. More info here
The Nicene creed builds on the Apostles creed specifically to address the nature of Christ. Here are details about how it came to be. I was developed to deal with heretics that were trying to separate Christ's humanity and divinity.
Lastly, the Athanasian creed is one of the absolute best descriptions of the Trinity you can find anywhere. Details here and here. It was developed out of a need to correct heretics that were dividing the Father and Son.
If I could recommend 1 book that would give you a really good, yet brief background and explanation of these Creeds and more, it would be this one.
Robert Wright's "The Evolution of God" is good both because it summarizes the scholarship on the topic and makes it interesting for the reader. It is also a lot newer than Karen Amstrong's book, which is important since a lot has happened in the scholarship of these religions in the past 20 years.
Notre Dame historian Mark Noll wrote a book on this: The Civil War as a Theological Crisis.
For a broad overview of philosophy, I've heard good things about Frame's History of Western Philosophy and Theology. Though it is an expensive and massive tome.
I can't compete with /u/davidjricardo but here is/would be my list:
NIGTC Book of Revelation Commentary
[The Reformation Study Bible ESV] (http://www.amazon.com/Reformation-Study-Bible-Crimson-Hardcover/dp/1567694411/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=31Tj7%2BFDV2L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR114%2C160_&refRID=1NETK7XFP7A2DT6824VT)
A History of Western Philosophy and Theology by John Frame
Greek East and Latin West: The Church AD 681-1071 by Andrew Louth
The Letter to the Romans - The Bible in Medieval Tradition
I've also recently become obsessed with Terry Brooks' Shannara series. If interested I recommend starting with the Elfstones of Shannara
Thanks for those links. I'm going through Cowan and Spiegel's The Love of Wisdom, and was actually going to buy Frame's book my next go-around at buying books. I'll read it when I'm done with my other book, but this will definitely be helpful!
Religious war and fragmentation. Quickly.
In fact, this almost happened. You could even say that it kinda did.
First, what you're describing is what was true of most European (and many other) nations of the time. This was the tentative settlement after centuries of religious wars and the associated political strife.
The HRE version was cuius regio, eius religio. Since the empire comprised hundreds of very small principalities, rather than a top-down mandate that would lead to yet another religious war, each prince got to decide the religion of his area. You don't want to practice the prince's religion? Well, then you pack up and move. It's not like you'd have to go very far.
Within this peace, there was a lot of quiet spy vs. spy type activity as Catholic countries plotted to retake Protestant countries and vice versa.
Even with cuius regio, eius religio, rulers generally only got to pick between a couple of options. Lutheranism or Catholicism, in the German case. Anabaptists not welcome. Anabaptists murdered and driven out of town, in fact.
Many people who came to the English colonies were members of religious groups that weren't in the favored few. Catholics generally weren't welcome in England, so they founded Maryland. Puritans weren't welcome pretty much anywhere - even the Dutch Reformed iconoclasts found them too radical - so they founded Massachusetts. Roger Williams didn't like the sort of Calvinism they practiced in Massachusetts, so he founded Rhode Island. Anabaptists like the Amish and Mennonites settled in German-speaking areas of eastern Pennsylvania.
When each colony declared independence and then later agreed to form the United States, some of them did abide by the "ruler chooses the religion" type of model. Several had elements in their state constitutions mandating that political figures profess Christian beliefs. The First Amendment only applied (initially) to Federal actions. When they referred to religious freedom, they largely meant that you could be any kind of Christian you wanted.
> And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably and as good subjects of the commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law. (Constitution of Massachusetts, 1780)
Even still, only about 1 in 7 people at the time were regular church-goers. Going to weekly Mass was an Anglican thing and Anglicans were English, and we don't want to associate with those people.
Then Methodism exploded onto the scene. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, sent his buddy Asbury to the United States to preach the Methodist gospel. People converted to Methodism and related groups by the millions, and this whole process was the Second Great Awakening.
For the most part, as long as everyone more or less agreed with the Methodist principles derived from Scripture, reason, and experience, America was a Christian nation. Specifically, it was a Methodist nation, especially outside the big coastal cities. It wasn't officially founded that way, but it became that way shortly after founding. Disputes, even legal disputes, could be settled among Americans by appealing to common religious ground. While preachers had no official government role, to be a preacher, you had to be educated and an orator, so many ended up in office anyway.
Then we had a problem. We couldn't agree on how to use the Bible to solve a huge social problem. Slavery. The US civil war was, to some extent, a theological debate. We fragmented on largely theological grounds and those still exist in our society today.
So we can say with some truth that your scenario is actually accurate, and that the answer is "we'd have a civil war".
Have you read The Evolution of God by Robert Wright? It resolves many of the inconsistencies and oddities of the Bible/Torah as actually textual evidence for the evolution of the Abrahamic God from a polytheistic pantheon. Might clarify your thinking here.
Here is a good read on the subject.
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-God-Back-Readers-Pick/dp/031606744X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422654371&sr=8-1&keywords=the+evolution+of+god
>I am mad at myself for not being this analytic about this earlier in my life
I had this exact feeling.
So one thing to realize is that this process takes time I mean for FSM sake u lived a lot with this Idea.keep reading whatever you do keep reading.
some sources or ideas that were helpful to me:
keep fear away and ...good luck !
The ones that jump to mind are A Call for Unity and its famous response, Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
For the same issues one century earlier, The Civil War as a Theological Crisis
I guess I can't remember any better references at the moment - stuff I've encountered here and there. Hmmm...
How do you feel about mallow versus mellow?
here is some relevant literature
I'd suggest The Way to Nicea and Nicene Faith by John Behr. He's an Eastern Orthodox patristics scholar known for his works on Irenaeus.
I have not looked at those two, but I own Olson's The Journey of Modern Theology and found the parts I read to be quite good. I am more on the liberal end than Olson but I can agree that he offers a quite balanced view.
There's a danger in making God too distant as well, too unknowable. Grenz and Olsen have an interesting book looking at how theology in the 20th Century shifts from highlighting God's imminence or transcendence. They suggest we need a balanced view of both to have a proper view of God.
Know the Heretics by Justin Holcomb. This book was being read recently on Christian Radio.
The book only has three reviews on Amazon.
Reddit, do what you do best.
Absolutely it is useful. We see from the Apostle Paul that he was acquainted with and deployed pagan philosophy in service to the gospel of the risen Christ.
The most accessible, contemporary philosophical text written for the service of the church would be John Frame's. https://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Philosophy-Theology/dp/162995084X
This is taken from Bearing God: The Life and Works of Ignatius the God Bearer.
As far as books, I recommend the following as a general introduction:
And then these if you're interested in the history of theology:
A good recent anthology of primary texts from Yale University Press is Eastern Orthodoxy: The Essential Texts.
A meaty series from St. Vladimir's Press is The Church in History.
The Cambridge History of Christianity is a wonderful and rich resource. It's written by multiple scholars. Volume 5 covers the Eastern Orthodox.
A classic secondary source on Orthodox thought is John Meyendorff's Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes.
Happy reading!
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Did someone say reading list?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005TA7PSG/ - Read
http://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Four-Views-Parallel-Commentary/dp/0840721285/ - Read, which help me also to get…
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YCQ8W0/ - Read parts of it
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H1UOPE/ - Read
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BD2UR0/ - Read
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TXTC22/ - A pastor I follow online recommend this. I haven’t got to it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0079QQ0RK/ - No way am I going to finish this!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CYLD5C/ - Haven’t started yet.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030CVQ5I/ - Started, but read some of the low star reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007J71S62/ - I recently got this book, but haven’t started it yet.
http://www.amazon.com/Petrus-Romanus-Final-Pope-Here/dp/0984825614/ - Uh… yeah. I read it.
***
All of that said, I know of a few Messianic Jews on YouTube but don’t know if there is any such congregation in my area. Alas I am at work and can’t dig out the names here. I also like to pick apart how they view the “rest of us” since, IMO, Christmas and Easter is so paganized.
http://www.reddit.com/r/INTP/comments/1dy1ws/intp_christians/c9v2tia?context=3
http://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/1c3qyk/jewishness_and_the_trinity_confirmations_and/
Anyway, when I got more time and less interruptions (i.e. AT HOME), I’ll check out the rest. I know of Paul Washer already.
If you are looking for something to read up with, I would recommend this book.
>I still think the Nicene Creed is a faithful exposition of the doctrine of the Trinity and I have people and family I trust that know a lot more about this than I do. They would also attest to the validity of the Nicene Creed, as a result I'm a little more confident, despite my ignorance.
And I would agree with them. I would just argue that we got here not just by reading the Bible.
> You do realize the deliberations at Nicaea were argued pretty much purely from scripture, right?
And this proves my point! Both sides of the debate argued from scripture. Both sides carefully studied Scripture, and came to two very different positions. If you look at Scripture, and nothing but Scripture, you can make a strong argument for either side.
What the whole debate came down to was what did the Bible mean when it used the term "begotten." The Arians maintained that it was the same as "created" or "born." Alexander, their main opponent, disagreed. But to make his point, he had to use extra-Biblical (and mostly non-Christian) philosophy.
What is the whole point of this: many of the doctrines we hold dear are not the clear and only reading of Scripture. Every Christian and Christian denomination holds doctrines that may not contradict but go beyond what is plainly taught in the Bible and instead rely on tradition. Even people who argue we should completely disregard tradition and go with the Bible alone are using at least one extra-Biblical tradition: Sola Scriptura.
I think that it is important that we recognize this. First, because it gives us a better understanding of and more grace for our brothers and sisters who rely on tradition more than we do. Second, because it is intellectually honest. And third, because it helps us to keep focused on the truly central doctrines of our faith (which I would argue are completely and clearly laid out in the Bible, such as the efficacy of Christ's Resurrection).
I just finished reading “The Civil War as a Theological Crisis”. Cannot recommend it enough.
This is the basic seminary dogmatics (systematics) textbook:
https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Dogmatics-1-Francis-Pieper-ebook/dp/B00655VKQW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495484795&sr=8-1&keywords=francis+pieper
It's not too inaccessible to a layperson who's interested.
The Civil War As A Theological Crisis
If you're wanting a history of how religion evolved in that arena, I can recommend this https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-God-Back-Readers-Pick/dp/031606744X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493132334&sr=8-1&keywords=the+evolution+of+god
I haven't read these yet, but one or both WILL be on my near-term reading list:
Evolution of God
A History of God
Added it to my wishlist! Will probably be looking into this from the linked thread first in my pile of for-fun-theology reading, though.
Is it mostly primary sources rather than commentary?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Evolution-Back-Readers-Pick/dp/031606744X
Thanks /u/friardon for the tidbit!
I got John Frame's History of Western Philosophy and Theology. I haven't found a history of philosophy from the Reformed perspective that's also thorough and knows the details of competing philosophies. So when I read about this book coming, I knew I want to buy asap.
Yep. For further reading:
The Foundation of Augustinian-Calvinism https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VTS48L6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zouQDbN7DN82F
"This book summarizes Dr. Wilson's "ground-breaking" doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford which was published by Mohr Siebeck in 2018 as "Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to 'Non-free Free Will': A Comprehensive Methodology". With a new audience in mind, Dr. Wilson presents his extensive research on free will in ancient and early Christian thought in a shorter and more accessible format with translations of the ancient and modern foreign languages in plain English. Dr. Wilson first provides readers with essential background information on free will in the ancient philosophies and religions of Stoicism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, and Manichaeism. He then guides his readers through the writings of the earliest Christian authors who wrote on free will. Finally, Dr. Wilson explores a curious split between St. Augustine's early and later writings and shows how the ideas presented in Augustine's later writings became the foundation for modern Calvinist (Reformed) theology, also known as Augustinian-Calvinism."
The Evolution of God.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Evolution-Back-Readers-Pick/dp/031606744X